


Patient Love

by Mad_Mage



Series: Under a Weirwood Tree [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Hear me Roar, Joffrey Baratheon is His Own Warning, Romance, Secret Crush, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24072631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mad_Mage/pseuds/Mad_Mage
Summary: Tommen colored slightly when he pictured pulling Sansa under a weirwood tree and stealing a kiss from her lips before she could protest.---The second story in the series features a slightly blushing hero, a damsel in distress that can take care of herself, and one idiot punched in the face.
Relationships: Joffrey Baratheon/Sansa Stark, Tommen Baratheon/Sansa Stark
Series: Under a Weirwood Tree [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729138
Comments: 20
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Nothing’s mine, I’m just a poor mad mage.  
> \---  
> Welcome to the second story in the series, in which Tommen comes and steals the show! Only two short chapters but I like to think that’s exactly the length it needs to be. Have fun :)

Joff was drunk again. Tommen watched his brother embarrass himself at the party for a few moments before he noticed that the birthday girl herself was rather unimpressed with Joffrey’s behavior.

Sansa stood off to the side with her sister and was watching him stumble around in faithful imitation of their father. Robert had staggered away only an hour or so ago and while Tommen knew that Joff desperately wanted to be noticed by their father, acting like Robert was hardly going to do him any favors.

The Starks detested alcohol abuse. He had never seen Ned or Catelyn drink more than two drinks in one evening and he had never seen any of their children drunk. In a good mood? Sure, but hardly more than that. He was an abstinent himself; with the examples his mother and father had provided, he hated alcohol since he had been a kid. It turned people in the worst versions of themselves.

Sansa leaned down to whisper something to her sister and Arya smirked and walked off. Tommen sighed and stared glumly at the glass of cola in his hands, wishing to be anywhere but here. This whole thing was a mess.

Tommen knew that Robert had been pushing for a Stark/Baratheon union since before any of them had been even born because his father had been in love with Ned Stark’s sister as a youth. While times sort of progressed from the medieval period where parents decided whom the kids would marry, both Joff and Sansa had felt pressured into being together. The golden couple of King’s Landing represented joining of two large companies – three if Joff was really going to inherit from their grandfather as mother liked to believe. Tommen was pretty sure that Grandpa Ty had more sense than that, though.

He wanted to smash his glass against the ground and scream that it wasn’t bloody fair. Joff didn’t even love Sansa; his brother just wanted Robert’s approval and inheritance. Tommen had discovered quite young that Robert’s attention or approval wasn’t really worth the effort and since then, he had just not cared about getting it. He had gotten out of the madhouse of their home as soon as possible and did not regret it at all.

Joining a naval academy and going off to serve under Uncle Stannis on his battleship hadn’t exactly been the way how to earn his father’s love but it had been a great way of earning some self-respect.

“Hi, Tommen.”

Tommen choked on his cola as he slowly turned to look up at Sansa Stark standing before him in her pretty blue dress and with a flute of sparkling water in one hand. She was smiling down at him and when he managed to recover from his shock, Tommen grinned back.

“Hello, birthday girl.”

“Is my party really so terrible that you want to murder that poor glass of soda?” she asked as she slipped to sit next to him on the bench. Tommen shrugged and shook his head.

“No, the party is fun. The clown deserves a raise for sure.” He indicated toward Joff who had just fallen on his ass and was complaining about some invisible molehill in the grass.

“Yeah, you’re right. That’s quite a performance.” Sansa grimaced. “Damn him, I was kind of looking forward the midnight but I don’t think my esteemed boyfriend is going to stay conscious long enough for that.”

Tommen agreed with her. Joff would be out cold pretty soon. He wanted to ask her why she was wasting her time with his brother but decided against it. If he started on that route, Tommen was sure that he would eventually do something stupid like asking her out himself. While he couldn’t say that there was much brotherly love between him and Joffrey, he was not about to steal his brother’s girlfriend.

“What is so special about midnight?” he asked and turned to look at her fully. Sansa was beautiful – he had discovered that little fact over six years ago. She had just started dated Joff and Tommen had been home for the first time since joining the academy. He had been still a green boy, barely eighteen, and there she had been, a barefooted beauty walking through the grass in nothing but short summer dress. She had looked like a dream and Tommen had fallen hard at first sight.

“You’ve never heard of it?” Sansa giggled, slightly flushed. “Well, I suppose it’s only a northern thing, really.”

“What is a northern thing?” Tommen smiled. He liked the way Sansa’s eyes lit up – for the first time that evening, he believed. Not that he had been watching her the whole night because he hadn’t… Not the whole evening, at least. “Come on, you can tell me. I won’t laugh at your weird northern  _ things _ .”

“Well, it’s the first of May tomorrow and we have this tradition of kissing under blossoming trees on that day.”

Tommen colored slightly when he pictured pulling Sansa under one and stealing a kiss from her lips before she could protest. “Why it has to be on the first of May?”

“Just a superstition, I don’t know. Back at Winterfell, I used to sneak around the castle on my birthday to meet with my boyfriend in the Godswood so we could kiss right after midnight under the stars. It has to be a weirwood tree, you see. Any other doesn’t really count.”

“Why?” Tommen chuckled. 

“So the old gods could bless you, silly.”

“Oh, I see…”

“Hey, you’re here! Tom, you too! I’ve been looking for you, Sansa.” Joffrey stumbled toward them suddenly and crashed on the bench between Sansa and Tommen. The space was small and Tommen gritted his teeth – a habit he had picked up from Uncle Stannis when he was annoyed – and suppressed the urge to shove his brother’s drunken ass away from him. Sansa, however, grimaced in pain and slid to the side, making a room for Joff and massaging her hand.

“Yes, here I am,” she said sarcastically. “Are you ready to go to bed, Joff?”

“The night’s still young. I want to dance with you.” Joffrey regained a bit of his balance, stood up, and reached for Sansa. “The band’s gonna play my favorite song just for us, I asked them.”

“I-ah-I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She avoided his grasping hand and smiled. “Why don’t we get some coffee instead?”

“I don’t want a coffee, I want a dance.” Joff managed to grab her arm and pulled her up. “Now. come on!”

Tommen observed with a deep frown as Sansa shook her head and tried to break loose from him. Joffrey instead of letting go tightened his hold to the point of making Sansa gasp in pain, and hissed, “Don’t make a scene, honey.”

That was unforgivable. Tommen was on his feet before his brother had finished the sentence, furious. That was no way to treat a woman, let alone his own girlfriend. Tommen knew that his brother was an idiot, but he had never thought that Joff could be that stupid and treat Sansa badly at her own birthday party in her parents’ house with so many people watching. Sansa had four brothers, after all, and they were all present.

“The birthday girl said she didn’t want to dance, Joff.” He stepped to him and put a hand on his shoulder. She had him, too, even though she didn’t know that.

“Oh, really?” Joffrey whirled to face him, tugging at Sansa’s arm painfully. “And you’re her spokesman or what?”

“Joffrey, let go, you’re hurting me,” Sansa stated calmly and placed her delicate hand over Joffrey’s holding her arm. “Everyone’s watching. It’s you who’s making a scene. Let. Go. Now.”

“You can’t tell me what to do!” he screamed. “You’ll do as  _ I _ say! I’ll be your husband and you have to listen to me!”

“The hell I do.” Sansa appeared annoyed and she yanked her arm out of his grasp. When Joff moved to grab at her again, Tommen decided that enough was enough, and stepped between them, staring at his brother coldly.

“Why don’t you calm down?” he asked.

Tommen was only slightly taller than Joffrey but he was heavier and he knew how to knock down a bag of bones like that. While his brother had been driving around King’s Landing in his sports car, Tommen had been running rounds and doing push-ups until he vomited – for years and years.

Joff shoved him. That was a mistake. Tommen hadn’t known how much he wanted to punch his brother right until the moment he actually had punched his brother. Joff flew through the air and landed in the grass in a disgraceful heap, blood pouring from his nose.

“You hit me!” screeched his brother and he wondered why he hadn’t done it much, much sooner. Fisting his hand, he grimaced at the pain. Tommen had never thrown a punch without boxing gloves on and he was sure that his knuckles had not been aligned properly, but breaking Joff’s nose was well worth a little bit of pain.

Their mother would be absolutely livid. He looked forward to it.

“Tommen Baratheon!” sounded from behind him and he sighed. Sansa didn’t sound impressed and he supposed that she had no reason to be. They had ruined her birthday party and he had just broken her boyfriend’s nose.

“What were you thinking? Come with me!” She grabbed his left hand and dragged him toward the tall trees, leading him into the depths of the garden.


	2. Chapter 2

Tommen felt stupid and beyond embarrassed as he trotted after Sansa through the darkened garden. His hand was tingling and he was pretty sure that he had bruised his knuckles but he refused to look down at the damage.

Sansa was marching forward and he tried his best to keep up with her seeing that she kept a firm hold on his other hand. She was furious, he could tell, and he wished that he hadn’t acted like an unthinking savage. Tommen wondered why she felt the need to drag him away from the other guests but he didn’t dare to ask. Punching Joff had felt great but now he was quickly starting to be ashamed of his behavior.

The pain in his hand was nothing compared to the mortification he felt. Violence was not the answer and as a trained guy, he knew better than to pick fights with his own brother who did not even know how to throw a basic punch let alone how to hold his own in a scuffle.

Sansa finally stopped, letting go of his hand and taking several steps away from him. She was breathing hard and he watched her shoulders rise and fall at a loss of what to say or do. Was she angry at him?

Uncertainly, Tommen shifted his weight and glanced around, asking rather nervously, “Sansa? Why are we here?”

They were in a secluded corner of the garden. Tall trees were growing on his left and high bushes on his right and it was a moonless, warm spring night. He could swear that he heard the whispering sea somewhere in the distance. He liked water because it calmed him – the sound, the salty smell. The air was full of a heady sweet scent of blossoms, however; it didn’t smell of the ocean.

“It’s private. Quiet. I used to come here to sulk when we first moved to King’s Landing. It reminded me of home.”

She was still not looking at him and Tommen stared down at his feet. He had ruined it, hadn’t he? They had been sort of friends which was much better than being nothing. They sometimes chatted on Skype, and he sent Sansa funny postcards from exotic places whenever he was on shore leave. But Sansa was the kind of girl who would stand with her man, even if the man was such a useless waste of space. What she had seen in Joff, Tommen didn’t know.

“Why did you do it?” she asked and finally turned to look at him. Her eyes were bright and sparkled even in the darkness, and her expression was curiously expectant. Tommen’s heart picked up speed and he shuffled his feet like a schoolboy, watching her watching him. Sansa didn’t look angry to him and if he could figure out what did it mean…

“How could I not do it?” Tommen shrugged and smiled a little helplessly. “He was being rude and handsy and you didn’t like that and I…”

“I was perfectly capable of handling his drunk ass on my own, Tommen. I didn’t need you rushing to my rescue…” She didn’t even let him finish.

“Why are you even with him, Sansa?” Tommen growled in frustration. Didn’t she see how wrong for her Joff was? How could she not? Everyone with eyes thought the same thing... Tommen wasn’t biased… Or was he?

“…like I’m some damsel in distress…”

“Joff doesn’t deserve you!”

“…who needs a guy to save he-What?” Sansa’s eyes were suddenly huge as she was looking up at him.

“What?” Tommen swallowed and blinked, replaying the last part of their conversation in his mind.

“Oh, I don’t think you are a damsel in distress that needs rescuing but that doesn’t mean I’ll let anyone hurt you. Because he did, didn’t he?” Tommen breathed through his nose and motioned to her arm where a bruise was already forming. “And I won’t apologize for stepping in if that’s what you are expecting right now... and you can be angry at me and I’m sorry if you are but I’ll do it all again if the need ever arises… How could I not defend you when I…”

Then he fell silent, eyes wide. He had almost let out the secret. The last thing he needed was Sansa trying to patronize him that he was a cute little kid with a cute little crush. He was only two years younger than her, after all, and was just starting a promising naval career. They weren't children and he knew his own heart perfectly well.

“When you what, Tommen?” Sansa asked gently, raising her hand and cupping his cheek. When had they gotten so close to each other? Tommen wasn’t aware of taking even a single step closer to her and surely he would have noticed her approaching him, right?

“When you what?” she repeated in a whisper, eyes shining. She didn’t look like she was going to let him down slowly. Sansa looked like she was about to stand on her tiptoes and lean closer and…

_Kiss him_.

Sansa Stark was kissing him and Tommen being the young capable naval officer he was realized rather quickly what was going on. He wrapped his arms around her without further prompting. Only lightly at first, but when she sighed into the kiss, he grew bold and lifted her up in his arms, taking several steps toward the trees on his left.

“When I love you,” he told her seriously, resting his forehead against hers and nodding slightly to emphasize the fact because he doubted she could see his expression. Tommen didn’t expect to hear it back – he had never expected that he could be kissing her, after all, but he was a patient guy. If Sansa gave him a chance, he would make the best of it. Coming to think of it, he should better use this opportunity as well and continue with their current activity.

“I’m going to kiss you again if it’s alright with you.”

“No objections here.” Sansa’s voice was very soft in the darkness but he heard the brilliant smile hiding right in the corners of her mouth.

There, under the canopy of sweet-smelling weirwood blossoms, he dipped his head down once more and pressed his lips against hers again. Kissing Sansa was an extraordinary experience – so much better than he had ever thought even possible. It was like the first breath of air after spending minutes underwater, the first sip of water after marching in a desert for miles, like sunshine and a light breeze on a hot summer day.

His waterproof watch chimed to let them know that midnight had passed. Tommen felt Sansa’s smile broaden against his lips as he deepened the kiss, dipping the girl in his arms.

Above the trees, a thousand stars twinkled merrily like winking eyes of their gods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Allow me to say how much I adore the idea of Tommen Baratheon being all tall and broad-shouldered and tough, reverting to a sweet little cub when in the company of his wolf lady. Hope you enjoyed this little AU because I loved writing it.  
> Lots of love, Mage : )

**Author's Note:**

> Go, Tommen, go! Yes, I wanted to write that forever *sighs* Our baby fawn is all grown up and growly. Grandpa Ty and Uncle Stannis would be proud.  
> Love, Mage :)


End file.
